


I'm Home

by JoMouse



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe, BIG Changes, Established Relationship, M/M, Moving, Tiny Bang 2016, Writers4Ziam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 08:57:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9992573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoMouse/pseuds/JoMouse
Summary: Zayn and Liam take one last silent trip through the flat they shared.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was part of the [Writers4Ziam](http://writers4ziam.tumblr.com) Tiny Bang 2016. Originally posted [here](http://writers4ziam.tumblr.com/post/151535953833/pairing-ziam-author-josjournal-jomouse-ao3) on 8 Oct 2016 and now shared here.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> xx-Joey
> 
> Don't know 'em. Don't own 'em. Don't show 'em.

Zayn leaned, arms crossed over his chest and a cigarette dangling from his mouth, against the hood of the van Liam had rented for the weekend, watching him carry another box down the last flight of stairs and out the door. They’d spent the entire morning emptying out the flat they’d lived in for the last five years. He took one last hit off the cigarette before dropping it to the cement, grinding it out under the toe of his boot.

His body jolted as Liam slammed the back doors of the van shut. He was dusting his hands off on the legs of his low-hanging blue jeans as he reappeared around the corner of the van. “Well, I think that’s all of it,” he said, his voice quiet. He glanced towards the door. “One last go through to be sure?”

They walked up silently, Zayn’s eyes studying Liam’s back as he moved. When they reached the fifth floor, Liam unlocked the door before standing aside to let Zayn walk ahead of him. He glanced at the other man for just a moment before heading into the space they used to share. It was strange standing there, the flat feeling even more empty than it had the first time he’d seen it. Of course, Liam had already been moved in at the time, Zayn arriving in answer to an ad looking for a flatmate.

Now, the walls were completely bare, holes that had been quickly patched still visible from where Liam had insisted they hang some of Zayn’s art. There was still a dent in the wall next to the opening to the kitchen where Liam had drunkenly stumbled and gone headfirst into it, his hard head causing more damage to the wall than vice versa. Zayn stepped forward to run his hand over the spot as Liam passed him to go into the kitchen.

He heard the cupboards opening and closing, a sound he’d woken up to many mornings, along with the smell of fresh coffee and burnt toast. Zayn’s lips quirked slightly at the memories as they flooded. Turning away from the wall, he headed towards the hallway, stopping in the doorway of the room that had originally been his and then, when things between Liam and him had changed from mere flatmates to so much more, had become a shared studio and office. He spotted the streak of blue paint stained into the carpet from an impromptu makeout session.

“The whole reason we won’t be getting that security deposit back,” Zayn muttered.

“I’m thinking it’s the hole you put in the wall of the other room when Danielle showed up for my birthday, actually,” Liam said as he passed him, heading into the bathroom. 

“Oh yeah,” Zayn admitted, remembering the feelings of jealousy and anger that had coursed through him until he’d had no other option but to let them explode through his fists. On the plus side, that had been the night Liam and Zayn had admitted their changing feelings towards each other. He really wasn’t going to point out to Liam that the hole is slightly larger because he’d hit it again at least once or twice over the last few months.

Passing the bathroom, he saw Liam leaning on the counter and staring into the mirror. He opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it before continuing down the hall towards the other bedroom. He hesitated outside of the room, not sure if he wanted to face the memories, both good and bad, that would come when he stepped inside of the room. He stood staring at the doorway, lost in his own head, until he heard the front door of the flat open and shut behind him. He didn’t even have to look around to know that he was alone in the flat, he could feel it.

He decided to skip the last look at the shared bedroom, knowing that would only make it that much harder to leave. He grabbed the key Liam had left behind on the ledge by the front door before closing and locking the door for the final time. He dropped his head to the door.  _ “Wow...I didn’t expect it to hurt this much,”  _ he thought.

***

Liam pulled the van into the drive, glancing into the mirrors to be sure he was pulled completely off the street. Hopping out, he walked around to the back, pulling open the doors. He shook his head at the amount of boxes that greeted him. How could so much stuff accumulate in just a few years? The boxes were colour coordinated so he could quickly identify which ones went where. He bypassed the ones with yellow stickers to grab one one with a red smiley face before using his back to shut the door.

Liam moved slowly up the walk, taking in the house in front of him, still amazed he was going to be living there. He was almost to the porch when the door was flung open. “‘Bout time ya got here, ya wanker!” Niall shouted.

“Language, ye arse!” Louis said, stepping up behind him.

Harry joined the two in the doorway with smacks to the back of both of their heads. “Behave, both of you,” he said, waving at Liam. “Let the man in and go get more boxes.”

“The ones with the red labels,” Liam reminded as he pushed past Harry and headed towards the stairs. He entered the master bedroom, eyes falling on the king size bed in the center. It was a step up from the double that had been in the flat, but at the moment it just looked big and empty. He set the box in his arms next to it, debating whether he should start unpacking it now or continue bringing in boxes.

He thought back to Zayn as he'd last seen him, standing in the hallway of the flat, staring at the doorway of their old bedroom. He'd looked so sad that Liam felt it like a physical blow even now. Leaving the flat and the life they'd built between its walls had been so hard, for the both of them. 

“Wake up, Payno,” Niall said, walking into the room, setting the box in his arms next to the one he’d brought in. “There’s a lot of boxes in that van still.”

As they exited the room, Liam saw Harry’s back in the doorway of the room next to the one they’d just left, he had his phone to his ear and was talking quietly. He was going to ask who he was talking to when he heard the sound of a motorcycle outside. He was half-way down the stairs when another sound stopped him. 

He turned to look back towards Harry, but he was gone. He moved to take a step up the stairs when the front door opened. He glanced over his shoulder to see Zayn standing in the doorway, a helmet under one arm and a single red rose in the other. Smiling, Liam started to take a step towards him but stopped when he heard the sound from upstairs again.

“Dadadadadada,” came the babbling of the eighteen-month-old they'd adopted three months earlier.  He stayed cuddled against Harry’s chest but was reaching towards Liam. Liam’s smile grew as he turned to hold his arms out to the entire reason they had to finally move out of their small flat into the two bedroom house.

Liam heard Zayn’s steps hurrying up the stairs to reach the two of them. He pressed a kiss to Hashir’s forehead before turning to offer the rose to Liam. “Honeys, I’m home,” Zayn whispered against Liam’s lips when he leaned in for his own kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to come talk to me on Twitter or tumblr. I really love meeting new people!


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